The 2012 Royal Rumble pay-per-view includes just four announced matches, but the show nonetheless looks like the most interesting edition within memory. The WWE has done a great job of enhancing each match with intrigue that goes beyond the basic question of who wins.
WrestleMania is a snapshot of the business and the biggest show of the year, but I find that the Royal Rumble (and, recently, Money in the Bank) is the pay-per-view that generally tells us more about where the business is headed[1]. I fully expect that to be the case in 2012. Moreso than usual, in fact.
No new show for The Office tonight. Yet, we get two new episodes of 30 Rock. So, much like an early-twentieth-century Olympic sport with few competent nations, the same competitor will get two entrants into the fray. I’ll just judge each on its own merits as if it were a different television series. Easy enough.
The wave of controversy over SOPA didn’t come as any shock. What I found strange was that many of those standing against the bill did such an effective job of framing the narrative precisely to their collective liking, reality be damned.
Today is my birthday. That fact triggers no negative emotion whatsoever. I don’t feel as old as the calendar tells me I am.
The much-anticipated return of the FX comedy comes after a strong run to end the second season, followed by a three-episode arc to bridge the gap between the second season and the third. Fox seems to have committed to Archer more than ever, as the parent network has been promoting the show to a greater extent than I recall in prior years.
Tim Tebow’s harshest critics—just like his strongest supporters—remain resolute in their opinions despite any evidence to the contrary. But how many of his detractors can honestly say that he didn’t exceed the level of success they anticipated? Recall that Denver had gone 5-16 in its previous 21 games before Tebow got the starting job for good in Week Seven of 2011.
The WWE admittedly relied more consistently on this particular trick of the trade when it was a regional promotion that ran nearly all of its major shows out of immigrant-heavy New York City. But promotions all over the world used this tactic. It’s a simple formula that persists to this day. Santino Marella is an entertaining, some-might-say-offensive Italian stereotype. Sheamus was touted repeatedly as the first Irish-born WWE champion in history. Drew McIntyre (remember him?) incorporates the Scottish national flag into his ring attire. Wade Barrett boasts about becoming the first English World Heavyweight Champion sometime in the near future.
Quick Thoughts on the Rumble
I’m trying my best to keep this charmingly eclectic website from morphing into an all-wrestling blog, but I feel compelled to discuss a few things that happened last night after spending so much time in fevered anticipation of same. I will preface this by making two points.
First, I like Sheamus. I really do. I thought him winning the WWE Title in his first year in the company was great, and the creative team executed that angle superbly. I think he’s a main-event-level star.
However . . . the one thing I can’t abide is a breakdown in narrative integrity. Poor storytelling. That’s what happened last night.
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